Some McLaren-Flint employees discover tax-filing fraud attempted in their names

FLINT, MI – A union president at McLaren-Flint says that
about 30 employees have had trouble filing their taxes, because someone had
already filed using their names.

Alan Napier, union president for the registered nurses at
McLaren-Flint, said he's talked with about 30 employees, some union members and
some administration who have had this trouble in the past three weeks.

"We just have concerns. We were never notified by the
employers that there was a breach or potential breach," Napier said.

Napier said employees have said that the IRS caught the fraudulent filings or
that when they went to file their taxes, the IRS indicated that someone already
attempted to file in their name.

According to the IRS's website, an identity thief will use a
stolen Social Security number to file a forged tax return to attempt to get a fraudulent
refund early in the filing season. Victims may be unaware that it's happened
until they file their returns.

Laurie Prochazka, marketing and communications director for
McLaren-Flint, said the hospital has gotten information that some employees
have been victims of fraudulent tax filings.

Prochazka said it's unfortunate for the employees, but said
the hospital performed an internal investigation and there was no evidence that
suggested employee information in the fraudulent tax filings came from a breach within the hospital.

"We have no reason to believe that anything was breached in
the McLaren system," Prochazka said.

Prochazka said the hospital was told that the false tax
information given to the IRS didn't match the correct information.

Napier said he does think its unusual that its happened to so many employees.

"We've contacted the IRS. We've been able to secure a phone
number to call and what to do if someone's already attempted (to file)," Napier
said.

Napier said he is giving out information from the IRS to
employees who have run into this problem and has been encouraging employees to
take further steps, such as contacting their credit card companies.

Some employees, he said, have gotten the problem fixed.

Dana DeFever can be reached at 810-429-3919 or
ddefever@mlive.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @DanaDeFever or
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